Jack awoke instantly, his body tense. His hands groped for the sword that he’d placed next to him along the length of his body before he’d fallen asleep. He gripped the handle of his shortsword and went still. It was dark outside. He didn’t know how long he’d been asleep. It felt like no more than two hours. Something had awoken him, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. He couldn’t see anything through the break between the two tree roots above him. For a few seconds, he lay completely still, listening carefully to the silence. When he thought there was nothing scary outside, he heard a low growl.
“What the hell,” he whispered.
There was some creature outside the two tree roots. Jack could hear it clearly now. The unknown creature was moving about somewhere nearby. He heard the scratching of claws against the roots and loud sniffing. Heart hammering against ribs, Jack tightened his grip on the handle of his sword. He could hear the mysterious creature climb on the two tree roots, its claws scratching against the rough bark audibly.
Jack’s eyes had already adjusted to the darkness of the night. He could make out the two roots up above him. Through the break between them, high up above could be seen the canopy of the forest. Silver moonlight sipped through the thick foliage. Jack continued to lay still, listening to the sniffing and scratching sounds the unknown creature was making as it tried to climb atop the two tree roots.
A few more seconds passed. The sounds were getting closer. Jack gripped the handle of his shortsword tightly and placed the weapon across his chest. He hoped that the unknown creature would just go away, but he had a feeling that it wasn’t going to happen. Whatever this creature was, it had clearly sensed him and was trying to get to him. So he had to be ready to defend himself.
He didn’t have to wait long. Judging by the sounds, the creature had finally managed to climb atop the tree roots. Jack could hear it move somewhere above him now. It would discover Jack lying down below at any moment. The creature sniffed and snorted, and Jack remembered where and when he’d heard similar sounds. The croc-rat he’d encountered back in the initial cave had emitted the same sounds.
A few more seconds passed, and then Jack saw the creature’s head in the break between the two roots. The animal saw him too, its evil red eyes glaring down at him. Though it was dark, Jack could tell that it was another croc-rat. It had the body of a rat, but its head resembled a crocodile’s. It also had something like spikes growing from its back and a long tail.
The croc-rat growled and tried to bite him, but its head was too big to slip through the two roots. Jack wasted no time stabbing the scary creature right into its open mouth, piercing its brain. Dark blood poured over his hand. When Jack withdrew his shortsword, the now-dead animal fell over and tumbled to the ground. A notification emerged in his vision, telling him that he received ten Essence points. So it had been another croc-rat all right: for the croc-rat he’d killed in the cave, he’d gotten the same amount of XP.
The creature was dealt with, but before Jack could relax, he heard other sniffing and snorting sounds. As it turned out the croc-rat he’d just killed wasn’t alone. It’d brought friends along. And judging by the noises outside, there were quite a lot of them.
Two or three other croc-rats climbed on the roots. They growled upon seeing him down below and tried to wedge their snouts through the roots. One of the creatures managed to do so, clamping its jaws down on his leg. Jack yelped when his shin lit up with a sharp pain. Another croc-rat slid its paw through the roots and raked his side with its claws. Gnashing his teeth in pain, Jack stabbed one of the croc-rats above him a few times until it was dead. He then turned his attention to the other monster. He tried to pierce it with his weapon, but the creature defensively jerked its body aside, losing its balance and falling down to the ground.
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There were no more croc-rats above him, but he could hear them move around the two roots, trying to climb on them. It’d been a mistake to sleep in this place. On the other hand, sleeping out in the open would have been even worse. However, there was no time to contemplate the matter. He had to get outside, otherwise he would be trapped. He needed to get in the open where he would have room to maneuver.
It took him a few seconds and a bit of squirming, but he finally managed to squeeze through the break between the roots. As he stood up on them, he looked around. Below all around him, at least a dozen croc-rats were trying to climb on the roots to get him.
Where did all these monsters come from? Jack thought. He hadn’t encountered any croc-rats when he was wandering around the forest during the daytime. The only croc-rat he’d encountered before now was the one he’d defeated in the cave he’d awoken in. Maybe these critters lived in caves and left them only at night?
But again, there was no time to think about it. He killed a croc-rat at his feet and jumped down from the roots. He landed a bit awkwardly, which resulted in him losing his balance and falling to the ground. One of the croc-rats immediately took advantage of his misfortune, biting him in the leg. Grinding his teeth at the sudden pain, Jack rolled on his back and grabbed his shortsword, which he’d dropped when he’d fallen. He stabbed the monster holding his leg in the eye, and the creature released him. He jumped to his feet and swung his sword downward, thrusting the blade all the way through the monster’s neck and killing it instantly. He then withdrew his sword and spun around, ready to fight the other creatures.
For the next several minutes, Jack fought the croc-rats attacking him from every direction. He dodged their attacks and slashed at them with his sword. He dealt with one monster after another, but every croc-rat he killed seemed to spawn two more. The battle didn’t last too long, but it was brutal. While Jack did his best to avoid the croc-rats’ sharp teeth and claws, every now and then, the monsters managed to bite or scratch his body. He was bleeding from numerous wounds, but he wasn’t going to let these obnoxious creatures kill them.
After taking care of another monster, he yelled furiously, “Who wants more? Come and get me! I can do it all night long!”
He spun around, ready to fight whatever was about to attack him, but he suddenly realized there were no more monsters alive. All around him only lay the bodies of the croc-rats he’d just killed. Still not quite believing it was over, he continued to stay in the same spot and look around. When the adrenaline in his veins began to fade away, he retreated to the gigantic tree to sit down on the ground. He leaned back against the huge trunk, his right hand still gripping the handle of his shortsword.
Here and there, he noticed large, about the size of his lower arm, firefly-like insects, sitting on tree trunks or flying through the air. He hadn’t noticed those night creatures before, because he had been solely focused on fighting the croc-rats. The large fireflies’ bodies cast blue, green, and purple glows throughout the forest. It was so beautiful he almost forgot how dangerous the alien forest was. Almost. The bodies of the dead croc-rats provided a sharp reminder of that fact.
The numerous wounds he’d received during the fight were still bleeding. Jack reached into his pockets only to find out that most of the vials had shattered during the battle, most likely when he fell to the ground.
“Goddammit,” he muttered, taking the glass shards from his pockets and throwing them away. He had to figure out a way to preserve the priceless magical potions during brutal fights. Or maybe he just needed to learn to keep his balance and not fall.
Luckily, in one of the pockets he found the only medium-sized vial that had survived. He immediately drank the health potion, and most of his wounds, the worst ones, miraculously healed up.
Even though Jack was dog-tired, he didn’t let himself fall asleep. An hour passed, then another, then a few more. No more monsters showed up to attack him. Only when daybreak began to come did he dope off. The last thing he saw before falling asleep was another notification flashing before his eyes.
You have survived another day! You have received 200 Essence points and 1,000 gold.